You probably know at least one family affected by autism. Recent figures say one in every 88 kids have an autism spectrum disorder.

In Angie's family, the figure is two out of three...her son has Asperger's and one of her twin daughters has mild autism. But instead of asking "why me?" she's giving back to families like hers.

Angie volunteers for Autism Speaks, a nationwide organization that raises funds for research into the causes of autism and its treatment. Angie's hope is that someday there will be a cure for autism, and she's doing what she can to help that happen.

Brooke Harris is out of a job as a Michigan teacher. But she’s not exactly sure why. All she knows is that her dismissal stems from encouraging her middle school students to raise money for the family of slain teenager Trayvon Martin. Lots of organizations are rallying not only for the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman, but to fundraise and defray the legal expenses Martin’s parents have accumulated just trying to bring their son’s alleged murderer to justice.

This is where good teaching came back to bite her in the hindparts: Harris initially gave her journalism students at Pontiac Academy for Excellence an editorial-writing assignment on the shooting. But the kids felt led to do more, and Harris says she asked the school's administrators if the eighth graders could pay $1 for a dress-down day, a popular fundraising tactic at schools that require uniforms.

Back when I found out I was having a baby girl I couldn't help but get excited about braiding her hair and buying her little tutus. Then I got scared. I remembered all my teenage insecurities and how challenging those years can be, particularly for a girl who doesn't have high self-esteem. So yes, I did get her a tutu and I try to braid her hair if she sits still (she just 2 years-old now) but I do realize one of the most important things I can help her with is self-esteem.

Cindy Breilh from the humanitarian organization World Vision offered some great ideas on how to empower women and girls, and many of those tips can be useful parents as their teens enter those very influential years. 

My kids are lucky. The only grand-kids on any side of their family, they get just about everything they could ask for -- and more. That's not to imply that they're spoiled -- far from it -- but they have so much STUFF.

Now that they're all old enough to understand the concept, I'm taking the next couple of months to teach them about giving back.

I’m always negotiating with homeless folks, and it irks Girl Child's nerves. We were picking up pizza and racing home for what turned out to be a disheartening Jets vs. Eagles game when a man approached me while I was in line.

“Hey sista,” he started — ‘cause they always hit me with the “sista” to soften the blow before they put in their request — “you have a dollar you can give me?”

I remember when folks used to ask for a nickel, a dime, a quarter. Now they’re asking for whole dollars? In southeast D.C.? Plenty of times, I barely had that much in my wallet for my doggone self, much less to be handing it out. But if my checking account isn’t running on fumes, I’m always willing to help.

Every year, my husband and I take our kids to the New York Marathon to cheer on the runners. This year, we decided to go further, signing our kids -- ages 8 and 6 -- as well as ourselves up as official volunteers.

As a family, we handed out hundreds of cups of water to people running through our borough -- and we sealed our belief that volunteering not only benefits others, but our kids as well.

A few important lessons kids learn by volunteering:

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It makes you feel all warm and Care Bear-ish to be recognized for being part of something good, especially when most of what we hear from the media, the government — even, heaven help us, teachers when we go to pick up our kids from school — is a laundry list about what’s bad. Living in a world of social turmoil and personal chaos can be a real downer. But, in the grand tradition of silver-lining-finding perkiness, there’s the joy of giving back to others. Yay!

I think we have this idea that to be a volunteer, you have to wear this badge and do some sort of sign-up at the end of your block. But being a mentor is being a volunteer. Walking past a public school and picking up some trash or giving a child — or an adult, for that matter — a kind word or a bit of advice, that’s being a volunteer. Doing good doesn’t have to be a big concerted effort. It just has to be. How are you passing that on to your kids?